Missouri House Representative Diane Franklin (R) has introduced House Bill No. 157, calling for a 1-percent sales tax placed on all violent video games sold in the Show-Me state. The bill states that anything rated T for Teen and up by the ESRB would be considered violent. This is a pretty liberal definition of what a ‘violent’ video game is as games like The Sims 3, Dance Centeral 3 and You Don’t Know Jack are rated Teen and would be taxed higher due to that rating. Don’t get too upset though as this bill won’t likely pass as the United States Supreme Court ruled that video games are protected speech, no different than books, paintings, or films, when it ruled on Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association in 2011. Legit Reviews has e-mailed Diane Franklin with some questions and will post them up if she would like to respond on the record!

The term “violent video game” means a video or computer game that has received a rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board of Teen, Mature, or Adult Only. In addition to any other sales tax provided for by law, there is hereby
levied upon sales of all violent video games an excise tax based on the gross receipts or gross proceeds of each sale at a rate of one percent.